Baddeley sets world parkrun best to make up for Olympic disappointment

Team GB star Mo Farah was not the only athlete to conquer the world last weekend.

Andrew Baddeley, who trains at St Mary’s University in Strawberry Hill and lives in Barnes, set a new world parkrun best in Bushy Park on Saturday hours before Farah secured 5,000m gold to add to
the 10,000m title he won a week earlier.

Baddeley put the disappointmeant of missing out on an Olympic 1,500m final berth last Sunday, clocked 13 minutes, 48 seconds to shave 12 seconds off Australian athlete Craig Mottram’s previous
course record.

The Bushy Park 5km event is the birth place of the voluntarily run parkrun franchise, which has spread to include more than 130 races across the UK and a host of others across the globe
including Afghanistan, Australia South Africa, Poland and the US.

Hours after Baddeley’s triumph, Farah – who also used to train at St Mary’s and is a regular at Bushy Park when in the country, became the first British athlete to complete the long
distance Olympic double.

And the former Feltham Community College pupil insisted he would remain true to his roots.

“Two gold medals, who would have thought that? It’s a dream and everything has worked out well,” the 29-year-old said.

“It’s an amazing feeling. Something I’ve worked so hard for, but I never thought I’d be Olympic champion twice in the same year.

“The crowd were amazing, they made an unbelievable noise. I’d just like to thank everyone who has supported me all my career, all my coaches down the years who have contributed to this win.”

Somalia-born Farah won the 5,000m in 13 minutes, 41.66 seconds, less than a second ahead of Ethiopia’s Dejen Gebremeskel and Kenya’s Thomas Pkemei Longosiwa.

The 10,000m was equally close, with Farah’s time of 27:30.42 pipping Galen Rupp of the US into second place and Ethiopian Tariku Bekele into third.

Only six athletes before Farah have completed the long distance double, confirming Farah’s legendary status.

“I’m the same old Mo. I’ve just got two Olympic medals, " he said.

"It’s something I’ve worked so hard for and I’m just going to enjoy it, spend some time with my family, friends and keep training. I know my opposition and they’re more hungry now. So tonight, I’m
going to go for a run.”